ARMY.MIL Features

Sergeant First Class Leroy A. Petry • Medal of Honor

Sergeant First Class Leroy A. Petry

Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry is currently assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, with duties as a liaison officer for the United States Special Operations Command Care Coalition—Northwest Region.

"Every human impulse would tell someone to turn away. Every soldier is trained to seek cover. That's what Sergeant Leroy Petry could have done. Instead, this wounded Ranger, this 28-year-old man with his whole life ahead of him, this husband and father of four, did something extraordinary. He lunged forward, toward the live grenade. He picked it up...and threw it back - just as it exploded."

From the Newsroom

Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry, who will have the Medal of Honor placed around his neck July 12, 2011, by the president of the United States, recounted the moment after his hand was taken from him by a grenade during a May 26, 2008, combat operation in Afghanistan.